Enter your email to subscribe:

In a confidential preliminary opinion, the
World Trade Organization ruled that the European Union violated trade rules when it imposed a
moratorium on approving genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). The WTO also ruled that six individual
states - France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Greece - broke
the rules by applying their own bans on marketing and importing GMO’s.WTO Coverage

The European Union will be forced to open itself to more
genetically modified products after the world trade panel ruled
today that its strict policy on biotech foods and crops amounts to
protectionism. The case, brought byArgentina, Canada and the United States, claimed that the EU's unofficial 1998-2004 moratorium on GMO approvals hurt their
exports and was not based on science. US farmers say the EU ban cost them some $300 million a year in lost
sales while it was in effect since many US agricultural products,
including most US corn, were effectively barred from entering EU
markets.

The GMO moratorium ended in May 2004 with EU
approval of a canned modified sweetcorn and there have been a handful of approvals since that time. However, the complainants argued that Europe's biotech
approvals process is still not working properly.

The European Commission claims the EU has put in place tough but fair laws since
1998 to ensure a smooth approvals process, so there is no reason to
change them - whatever the WTO says. The Commission insists that the case is not about Europe's GMO policy as such but
what happened between 1998 and 2004. All applications for GMO approvals
will continue to be processed and approved on a case-by-case basis
using scientific criteria. EU Statement

The WTO issued a clear-cut condemnation of EU
policy and criticized national bans on
specific GMO products in several EU countries. These products had already won EU-wide approval but several governments
used a legal exemption clause to enact national bans. These national bans were cited in the original WTO complaint in 2003.